Obituary of Adelaide Y Leen

Adelaide Y. Leen, age 99, born December 29, 1914, passed away on January 29, 2014. Her life spanned a century, but unlike the changing times she lived in, her devotion to her family and friends never wavered. Raised in a large happy family by her loving widowed mother, she gave her own children the same carefree childhood, educating and introducing them all to the wonders of the world. She shipped off to India in 1955 with her Foreign Service husband and a young family of six, where she worked with a small group of embassy wives to provide the beds (and even a couple of kittens) for Mother Teresa's orphanage in Delhi. In the evenings she frequently entertained in her role as an Embassy wife. She called her family "Taj-aholics" when she and her husband couldn't resist frequent family day-trips to wander the gardens of the Taj Mahal. Sunrise over rice-paddy-lined roads were a regular event, as she and her family travelled the length and breadth of India, from Kashmir and the Himalayan Hill Stations, to the beaches of Madras, Bombay, and Ceylon. Five years later when leaving New Delhi she moved her brood around the world alone (with 20 trunks and suitcases) to get them into American schools, while her husband finished up his tour in India. Just eighteen months later she left her American home again, this time moving her family to the Republic of Panama. A talented artist, her local Panama Canal Zone exhibitions attracted praise from The Miami Herald. Eventually she and her family were evacuated from Panama during that country's violent political unrest in 1964. She grew up three "blocks" from her husband in midtown Manhattan. As children they swam off the 53rd Street pier on the East River. They married during WWII, and remained devoted to each other for sixty-one years. They moved to Albuquerque with their daughter Theresa, following Mr. Leen's final post, in Viet Nam, and his subsequent retirement. They lived half their married life in their happy retirement home on Hiawatha NE, attending St. Bernadette's Catholic Church for thirty-five years, and later John XXIII Catholic Community. Since her husband's passing on July 2, 2005, her son, Dennis, Jr., has been her devoted caregiver and companion. She is survived by her children Lorraine Leen, Dennis Leen, Jr., and Theresa Chauvet; her grandchildren Griffin Leen-Sohl, Skye Leen, Jenifer Herrmann Bowers, Melissa Chauvet, and Michael Chauvet. She also leaves behind three great-grandchildren, Liam and Patrick Leen, and Loretta Bowers. She is preceded in death by her husband, Dennis, Sr., and her daughter Loretta Leen Herrmann. Adelaide is greatly missed. Arrangements entrusted to Riverside Funeral Home of Albuquerque, 225 San Mateo Blvd. NE., (505)764-9663.